Sponsored Stories lets advertisers take word-of-mouth recommendations and promote them, Facebook employees said in a video demonstration.

If a friend checks into Starbucks, for example, that check-in will show up on a news feed, but depending on how many friends you have, it could quickly get buried beneath other status updates, photo postings, or FarmVille stats. With Sponsored Stories, Starbucks could pick up that posting and feature it in the sponsored section on the right-hand side of your homepage. It will only appear to friends; your check-in will not show up for complete strangers.

I've been hating on Facebook for a while now. I lurk there, but rarely post so much as a comment on a friend's photo. I also removed all of my "Likes" and my Profile Info ages ago. But I continue to lurk and refuse to delete my account, because I find the base functionality of Facebook to be quite useful and valuable. But they keep setting their creepiness bar higher and higher, to the point that I refuse to participate on the site.

The other day I saw one of these "Sponsored Stories" and it was just too creepy. I know my friend doesn't sponsor the company that was promoted - I know they don't "get" anything out of hitting that "Like" button. So Facebook is in essence extorting this friend for their trustworthiness amongst their friends, so that they (Facebook) can make a smooth buck off the advertising (aka "promoting") of artificial endorsements.

Personally, I don't trust Facebook to keep this already-dubious behaviour to specific user actions such as hitting a "Like" button or checking in to a location. If they don't already, I suspect that it won't be long before Facebook starts scanning the text of your posts to see what else they can force your implied endorsement of.

When it comes to my privacy and Facebook's creepiness, I'm not convinced that cross-posting from Posterous to Facebook has any real advantage over posting in Facebook directly. However it certainly feels like I have more control, and like I'm providing an alternative. You can even receive my Posterous updates via email.

I'll give Facebook the benefit of the doubt (for now) with regard to scanning what I write. I'll continue to lurk there, and I might even start commenting on the odd photo. As for "Promoted Stories," if you want to avoid becoming an unwilling Starbucks mascot just by walking into the store, ask yourself whether checkins and the Like button are actually doing anything for you, and think twice before using them.